I Became the Protoss Lord?

That night, inside a hidden natural cave, Shen Jun sat before a fire, roasting meat.

Yes, it was sabertooth tiger meat. Not long after Shen Jun sliced open its belly, it died. Shen Jun, who disliked killing, mourned for it for one second, then tore off a few pounds of meat and brought it back to the cave where he had been hiding for three days.

Although the cave was close by, Shen Jun still used the method Rohana had taught him to gather psionic energy into his legs and sprint back at top speed. He didn't know if the bloody scent of the meat would attract more alien beasts, but caution never hurt.

Before entering the cave, he deliberately washed the blood off the meat, then finally felt at ease.

Soon, the sabertooth tiger meat—Shen Jun had no idea what it was actually called, so he just went with that—was roasted. As he ate, he communicated with Rohana.

"Rohana, what's this about you being copied into a Purifier? You're the last surviving Highest Protector of the Protoss, you should have had plenty of protection. You couldn't have just died in battle."

The Protoss were the most powerful civilization in the universe of StarCraft. Not only were their technologies highly advanced, but they also mastered a supernatural power known as psionic energy. Rohana was an ancient being from the golden age of the Protoss civilization's peak development.

As a Protector, Rohana had been sealed away alongside the Spear of Adun, the pinnacle of Protoss technological creation, only to emerge when the Protoss faced total annihilation—in the storyline, that was Amon's awakening.

Rohana's memory contained nearly all of the Protoss race's knowledge, along with thousands of years of developmental history. There was almost nothing about the Protoss she didn't know.

And what were Purifiers? Put nicely, they recreated the glory of the great Templars. In reality, they were mechanical clones, subject to discrimination and potentially vulnerable to control by technologically advanced enemies.

The young Hierarch Artanis—the current leader of the Protoss—would never allow Rohana to be copied.

That made "Rohana's" words highly suspicious.

"Amon has returned. He has become far stronger than before, surpassing even the level of the Xel'naga. Even Kerrigan was no match for him... Galaxies burned, stars dimmed. The humans and Zerg fell one after another, then came the Protoss. The universe was on the verge of destruction!"

"Amon brought the Void..."

Although Rohana was an Overmind, she had not lost her emotions. Recalling that terrifying experience, her voice still trembled uncontrollably.

"Amon destroyed the universe? Then this place..."

"We are no longer in that universe. To carry on the torch of civilization, the Hierarch decided to copy me—the Highest Protector Rohana—into an Overmind, carrying the complete databases of the Protoss, humans, and Zerg to flee into another universe. That is this place."

"When Amon returned, Kerrigan went to intercept him immediately. Although she failed, Amon's power had not yet reached its peak at that time. Kerrigan still gravely wounded him, buying enough time for our plan."

After hearing Rohana's account, Shen Jun was stunned. Was Amon really that impressive? Wait, then how did I end up here?

"Rohana, I grieve for the fall of your universe. But how did I come to this universe?"

"Our revival requires a guardian and a wise leader. I am merely an assistant. So, when I traveled through the universe, I chose you."

"Why me? And I'm not even a Protoss."

Shen Jun wasn't dazzled by the pie falling from the sky. The leadership of the Protoss wasn't something so easily taken.

"Because of your potential. Your innate psionic talent surpasses anything I have ever known. No one has ever been able to initially wield psionic energy in just a few minutes—not even Kerrigan."

"Your psionic upper limit may not be as vast as Kerrigan's, but in terms of control, you are unprecedented. Your future is limitless."

Rohana said this.

Shen Jun wasn't sure whether to believe her, but thinking back, he really hadn't found controlling psionic energy all that difficult. It seemed he really was a genius. Shen Jun secretly gloated to himself.

He began to fantasize about piloting the Spear of Adun and leading the Golden Armada to sweep across the universe.

"So, Rohana, how do we revive the Protoss? I can't exactly give birth to Protoss all by myself."

Fantasy had to return to reality eventually. Shen Jun wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and continued asking.

"Before she died, Kerrigan gave me all of her biological essence. With the divine power of the Xel'naga supporting me, I underwent a miraculous transformation and can now accomplish many incredible things."

"As long as sufficient energy is provided, I can directly warp in Protoss buildings from the other universe, and these buildings will operate automatically. Once a Crystal Tower is warped in, it will also bring adult Protoss with it. One Crystal Tower can carry two hundred Protoss, with random professions—they could be Khalai engineers or Templars."

"Our universe is on the verge of collapse. The warping can only proceed before it is completely annihilated, so we don't have much time."

"For ease of understanding, I have compiled this into a panel."

As Rohana's voice fell, a blue, translucent panel appeared before Shen Jun, densely packed with Protoss buildings. He only recognized a small portion; most were buildings that didn't exist in the game.

In the upper right corner of the panel was the energy reserve, still the familiar Crystal Minerals and Vespene Gas, with amounts of 1000 and 800 respectively.

Shen Jun noticed that most of the buildings on the panel were grayed out and unselectable. Only the Protoss Nexus, Crystal Tower, Housing Cluster, and Medical Center were lit up.

In the game, Housing Clusters and Medical Centers didn't exist, but in reality, they were essential and not expensive to build.

The Protoss Nexus price hadn't changed: 400 Crystal Minerals. The Housing Cluster was quite cheap: housing two hundred Protoss required only 150 Crystal Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas. The Medical Center cost 150 Crystal Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas, capable of treating fifty Protoss at once.

The price of the Crystal Tower had increased significantly. Originally costing only 100 minerals, it now required 800 Crystal Minerals and 400 Vespene Gas.

Shen Jun was stumped. With such meager starting funds, he couldn't do much of anything. Which should he choose: the Crystal Tower or the Protoss Nexus?

If he warped in the Nexus, the remaining resources wouldn't be enough to warp in a Crystal Tower, making the Housing Cluster and Medical Center completely pointless. If he warped in the Crystal Tower, he'd have no Nexus, meaning he couldn't build Probes, and thus couldn't mine minerals or gas.

Suddenly, Shen Jun noticed another energy statistic in the upper left corner of the panel: Biological Essence: 500.

"Rohana, what is Biological Essence?"

"Biological Essence, as the name implies, is the energy essence extracted from dead organisms. Every 10 units of Biological Essence is equivalent to 1 Crystal Mineral and 1 Vespene Gas."

Shen Jun understood. So those 500 points came from that sabertooth tiger, equivalent to 50 minerals and 50 gas. Not bad, it was worth quite a bit.

With that, Shen Jun made up his mind.

The next morning, Shen Jun swaggered out of the cave. He had spent the whole night meditating to cultivate his psionic energy, and far from being tired, he felt energized.

Based on his observations over the past few days, the giant sabertooth tiger was practically at the top of the food chain in this jungle. Tentacle Beasts—four-limbed monsters, a name Shen Jun had come up with—were second only to the sabertooth tiger.

And he had killed a sabertooth tiger yesterday. That meant...

In this jungle, he could walk sideways!